The next Spider-Man 4 Villain(s) will be…!

Let’s just get straight to it. The next Spider-Man movie villain will be… *drumroll*

Certainties:

The Lizard!

Here’s why:

The Lizard’s human alter-ego has already been introduced as Peter’s science Professor

Dark sewer fights (you know this will happen…) are a way to “get serious” after the playfulness of Spider-Man 3 (see jazz-emo dance scene). This will likely be done by lots of emotional struggle between The Lizard and Spider-Man, and their morals, as they fight

Sewer fights will level the playing field as Spider-Man won’t be able to use altitude to his advantage. This will introduce some different fight scenes and liven the action up from high-speed one-hit shots back and forth on rooftops.

Lots of “deep” characterization and entertaining emotional struggle since Peter already knows the Lizard in the movies as his science Professor.

He’s one of the last main Spider-Man universe characters with a close relationship to Peter-who values scientific research almost as much as Mary Jane or crime-fighting.

The first official Spider-Man 4 poster. (Not too revealing eh?)

Maybes:

The Black Cat: certainly not a main villain, but she would go along great with the Lizard to spice things up. She could be an villain turned ally and a potential love story could be brewed up. Very likely to appear in an upcoming movie.

The Scorpion: we’ve already seen a crazy villain in a green metallic suit. A tail that shoots acid is cool, but would seem cheesy in action. Possibly the scorpion could be re-written to be mutated along the same lines as the Lizard, tying in that storyline with another villain which Spider-Man would have no moral qualms about beating up on.

The Chameleon: seems like he would fit the bill as far as movie villains go, but since Spider-Man movies have always been about action, I don’t seem him being the primary villain. The Chameleon could introduce some real intellectual twists however. Perhaps he will be a secondary villain, one who causes the mutation of the Lizard/Scorpion in some way.

Very Unlikely’s:

Kingpin: already done, badly-in the Daredevil movie, and supposedly the character is owned by Fox. Also, crime boss seems very overdone as of late.

The Vulture: another commonly seen villain in Spider-Man’s past. The Vulture’s wings would allow for some interesting fight scenes, but I really don’t see a winged bald guy as being a Hollywood villain character without changing him so much that he’s unrecognizable to fans.

Mysterio: the general public would laugh their ass off at the costume (fishbowl helmet) without MAJOR alterations. Also his reality-altering mind games would be too much mental work for the average action movie goer and would be tough to write for.

Carnage: awesome villain, but we just saw the symbiote based venom. Maybe we’ll see the symbiote return for a grand finale in spiderman 6. I’ve always thought the Carnage-Venom saga was the climax of the Spider-Man comics.

Shocker: not completely ruled out, but the Shocker was really nothing more than a masked mercenary. Odds are the studio will be going for some real emotional connection to kickstart the series again, but he might appear as a villain’s sidekick.

Kraven: a lion-skin wearing jungle hunter? The average movie-goer would laugh their way out of the theater.

Rhino: a possibility for a secondary villain, but I don’t see the studios approving a costume with any similarity to what we’ve seen in the comics, and I doubt the brutish character would translate well in a top budget Hollywood movie.

This post was inspired by a recent article which listed the Top 6 Villains for the next Spider-Man movie. The list offered up a couple of good prospects, but was mostly just not very well thought out.

All of this conjecturing is great, as long as the producers don’t throw another curveball like they did mixing Venom and Sandman together in Spider-Man 3. Both could certainly have been great villains, (and I thought the Venom aspect was great if not done to a true fan’s liking) but they felt like they were unceremoniosly mashed together just to have the biggest special-effects laden ending possible. The result was BAD, here’s hoping our wishes are fulfilled in the fourth sequel.

This prediction article, written in 2009 was correct, 3 years before the movie’s release and before any information was known about the movie!

See above for some other possible villains in Spiderman’s universe that may appear in a sequel to the new rebooted “Amazing Spiderman” movies.

My bet for the next movie is on the Black Cat (NOT the Catwoman, which is a DC/Batman character). She may end up being a pseudo-ally against another villain, and could even end up being Gwen Stacy. The Black Cat’s alter ego is usually another character, Felicia Hardy, but for the sake of telling a concise, action packed story, it would make sense to use a character that has already been introduced well instead.

Another possibility would be a small group of villains, with a mastermind. This would allow the writers to introduce a lot of Spiderman’s universe in one movie before they wrapped it up with an epic ending for a classic trilogy. Along this line I could see The Vulture or Shocker as quick early introductory fights, with Chameleon masterminding something bigger for the climax. Kraven also has ties with Chamelon and could balance out a classic intelligence and strength dynamic.